Cold Weber Trip Produces Big Browns and Cutts

Second thoughts emerged about getting out of the truck this morning. I arrived at the river at 7:30 a.m. to frigid 17 degree temperatures that stung my face the second I opened the truck door. A rising fog covered the Weber river as if to try and hide it's treasure of big browns and aggressive cutthroat trout. My resolve stiffened, and I trudged through the snow to the waters edge and started casting into the deeper holes. Ice formed in the eyelets of my fishing rod making it difficult to cast without continually breaking it off every few casts. The fishing started out slow, and the fish seemed to not want to put forth much effort either during the cold morning hours. As the temperature started to heated up as the day went on, the fishing followed suit.

The first picture-worthy brown came about an hour into the trip. After that, the bigger fish came with regularity. They all tried their best to get away, but with each violent head-shake they were that much closer to the net. Today was different from most days in that I caught as my cutthroats as I did browns. The cutts had some size to them, and were acrobatic as they tail-danced across the water. I lost several fish in part to this dance.
While fishing the river, I was surprised at how few spawning beds there were. This time of year, the river is usually covered with beds and several trout. Of the few beds I saw, none of them had fish. That said, The day was filled with willing fish, and I ended the day with several fish at 20-22 inches. I will always take a day like that!
Today I tried P-Line Floroclear line for the first time. I went with Mist Green 10 pound test and set my drag a little tighter than usual so I could get them in quickly, get a photo, and release them back into the river safe-and-sound. P-Line Floroclear is a hybrid of monofilament line coated with fluorocarbon which gives you the stretch of mono and the invisibility and strength of fluoro. The line cast better than expected with the heavier test, and I was happy with it's performance.
I'm going to continue hitting the river for the next few weeks in hopes of that monster brown that keeps eluding me. Hopefully luck will be on my side in the next few trips, and I'll have that "wall-hanger" that I see in my dreams.

First picture-worthy brown of the day.

A good sized cutthroat for the Weber.



A nice brown to end the day on.